The invention relates to the longitudinal compressive treatment of webs in which a web is driven forward by being pressed against a drive roll by a sheet-form primary member. A stationary retarding surface or surfaces act to retard the driven web to cause the web to slow and longitudinally compact or crepe in a treatment zone. This technique, sometimes referred to as microcreping because of its ability to produce fine crepes, is exemplified by our prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,810,280, 4,142,278 and 5,060,349, which are incorporated herein by reference.
Among the prior art for mounting primary and retarder members in a microcreper is the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,329. While having advantages in many circumstances, this mounting has drawbacks in the personnel time required in changing the primary and retarder members and in limitations of machine designs possible when employing such a clamp. It would be desirable to have a mounting which avoided such drawbacks, but which still enabled the primary and retarder members to expand and contract with change in temperature without disturbing the geometry of the treatment zone.